1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a sound replicator and particularly, a sound replicator used as an aid in describing automotive sounds caused by defects in an automobile, and more particularly a hand-held sound replicator used as an aid in repairing an automobile by aiding the owner in describing to a service technician one or more noises made by the automobile as will be determined by the disclosure if the preferred embodiments and appended claims.
A common problem a service technician encounters in repair of automobiles is the owner attempting to describe a particularly new, unwanted, and maybe intermittent sound the automobile is making, wherein such a sound is similar to other sounds and could be caused by any number of defects or components in the automobile. Further it is nearly impossible for a person to orally duplicate and differentiate some of the sounds heard and some of these sounds aren't made continuously, thus requiring the service technician to take time and test drive the automobile.
Some sounds are hard to differentiate between, for example, one would find it hard to duplicate a tapping sound as compared to a knocking, pinging, clicking or rattling sound. A further example would be in trying to differentiate and duplicate a squeal as compared to squeak.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Sound generation art has many different applications, such as in games or toys in duplication desired sound effects as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,425,156, 3,591,911, or 5,184,830. Additionally, sound generators are used to duplicate sounds and are used for educational or training purposes, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,930,286, 3,845,572 or 4,932,880. Other types of sound generators are disclosed for example in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,578,912 or 4,393,373.